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Pol Pot Reportedly Leaves Country

January 04, 1998|By From Tribune News Services.

BANGKOK. CAMBODIA — Thailand's Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan has said that former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot had left Cambodia, but he did not know Pol Pot's whereabouts, The Nation newspaper reported Sunday.

Surin said he could not confirm recent Phnom Penh newspaper reports that Pol Pot, who is serving a life sentence under house arrest after being purged by former comrades, had fled to China to avoid facing an international court for his alleged crimes against humanity. "Our source said he is not in Cambodia, but I cannot confirm where he is now," Surin told the newspaper.

Two Phnom Penh newspapers reported that Pol Pot had escaped to China with the assistance of Chinese diplomats. A Chinese Embassy official in Cambodia dismissed the reports.